By Marcia Love
It’s been a long, but very rewarding 10 years for Clare McNab, kikawinaw of the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge.
McNab stepped down from her position of warden at the healing lodge on Sept. 3 to take on a new role in the field of corrections services. She is moving to Ottawa, where she will undertake the newly-established position of director of operations for the Department of Aboriginal Initiatives with Correctional Services of Canada.
The promotion and move come as both professional and personal achievements for McNab. But she also has mixed feeling about her departure.
“I’m excited to go and be able to shape (aboriginal corrections services) and do something that’s meaningful, but it’s hard to leave here,” she admitted. “I’ve really enjoyed living in Maple Creek, and I really loved the work here. I’m a prairie girl at heart, so it’s hard to go.”
Since beginning her career at the healing lodge in 2000, McNab said she has appreciated watching the residents grow and learn more about themselves.
“When the women come, what you see from the day they walk in the door and as they go along is that they really change,” she explained. “That’s the most rewarding part for me – to see them thinking and behaving differently and setting goals for themselves because they want to be different when they go back home.”
As kikawinaw (Cree for “mother”), McNab has thought of the residents as her children.
“When you watch (your children), you always dream about what you want for them,” she said. “It’s nice to see the women growing and learning right in front of your eyes.”
McNab was touched by the residents who shared their life stories with her, as she said some of them came from very traumatic backgrounds.
“When they come here they’re able to look at the issues that they may carry... and start coping with them and strengthening themselves and their confidence,” she explained.
McNab has faced many changes within the correctional system throughout her time at Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge. She said the healing lodge staff are constantly dealing with new policies and initiatives that have a deep impact on its operation.
One of the most significant modifications came in 2006, when the healing lodge’s capacity was increased from 28 to 40.
“It feels a lot busier here, and I think that’s just in part because we have more women and it takes more time and energy to work,” McNab said.
When she first began working at the healing lodge, many of the programs offered were geared towards men. As co-chair of a national committee on correctional programs for aboriginal women, McNab saw the addition of programs designed specifically for aboriginal women.
The position of kikawinaw will be filled by Veronica Favel, who previously worked at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge for eight years.
Although she will no longer be at the lodge, McNab hopes her new position will allow her to influence the future operation of the four healing lodges throughout the country.
“Where I do have influence I try to create a change,” she said. “In this new role I think I’ll have more opportunities to do that, because it’s not just here that’s impacted.”

After 10 years as kikawinaw at Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, Clare McNab has accepted a new position with Correctional Services Canada in Ottawa.   Photo by Marcia Love